Conveying and drying apparatus



N. MARSHALL CONVEYING AND DRYING APPARATUS July 17, 192s. Y 1,677,526

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N. MARSHALL CONVEYING AND DRYING.r APPARATUS 7. Sheets-Sheet 7 FiledJune 15 1921 Inl/16723074 Patented July 17, 1.928. p

UNITED STATES 1,671,526 i. PATENT OFFICE.

NORMAN MARSHALL, QF WALTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB TO BEH-INGTON ARMSCOMPANY, INC., A CORPORATION F DELAWARE..

Application led .Tune 15, 1921. Serial No. 477,849.

This invention relates to an apparatus for conveying and drying tubularand similar articles.

Theobject of the invention is to provide a novel and improved apparatusfor conveying and drying tubular and similar articles inv an economicaland advantageous manner.

In the drawings illustratin the preferred 'embodiment of the invention,ig. 1 is an elevation of the left-hand portion of the apparatus; Fig. 2is a detail of the left-hand portion of the lowermost section of thedryer; Fig. 3 is an elevation of the right-hand portion of Athe dryerand is to be used in connection with Fig. 1 to show the complete dryerin elevation; Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the transfermechanism; Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the same; Fig. 6 is an enlargedsectional elevation showing two of the 'dryer sections in their relationto one another; Fig. 7 is a plan of the left-hand portion of the dryer;Fig. 8 is a sectional detail showing a portion of the lowermost dryingsection in end elevation; Fig. 9 is a detail in side elevation of theright-hand end of one of the dryer sections; Fig. 10 is a plan of thesame; Fig. 11 is a side elevation of an alternate form of transferringmech-V anism; and Fig. 1'2 is an end elevation of the same with parts insection.

The apparatus illustrated in the drawings comprises, in general, a dryer10, an elevating conveyer 12, and a transferring mechanism 14 forautomatically transferring successive tubular articles from theelevating conveyer to the dryer,as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

The dryer 10 comprises a series of endless link belts 2O arranged aboveone another each belt consisting of two sprocket chains, arranged at theproper distance' apart to engage and support the tubular articleintermediate its ends and each link thereof being provided with anupstanding tube retaining lug 22. The endless link belts 20 each passaround sprockets'26 upon counter shafts 28 arranged as shown in Figs. 1,3, 6 and 7. All of the link belts are geared together by cooperatingIpinion gears 30 on the ends of the counter s afts 28. One of thecounter shafts 28 upon the left-hand end of the dryer is positivelydriven from a main power shaft 32, which is itself driven in any 55suitable manner. All of the endless link 'endless link belt to the nextbelow, until the belts 20, sprockets 26 and pinion gears 30 aresupported by an angle iron frame work 36 'secured by vertical stays 38in an over head position. Fans 40 draw air, heated by steam coils 42,laterally through the frame .work and over the tubular articles as theyare conveyed by the link belts 'from one side of the dryer to the other.

In operation, the tubular articles are deposited between adjacentupstanding retaining lugs 22 upon the ltop of the uppermost link belt.The latter is extended to the left beyond the remaining endless belts toa point near the transferring mechanism 14, as seen in Fig. 1. Thisupper endless belt also is driven from the power shaft 32 through achain 44 and sprocket 46 upon a counter shaft 48. Successive tubulararticles are accordingly conveyed upon the upper stretch of theuppermost endless link belt to the right of the dryer. As successivetubular articles reach the sprocket 26 around which the upper endlessbelt passes at the right of the dryer, as shown in Fig. 3, they areguided beneath a guide or retainer and .around the sprocket. From thelower portion of the sprocket the tubular articles drop past the end ofthe guide 50 and fall into a cooperating space between adjacent,retaining lugs 22 upon the upper belt of the second or next lower of theendless belts 20, by which they are conveyed back across the dryerpassing around sprockets and beneath guides at each end of the dryerfrom one lowermost sprocket 37 at the left-hand end of the dryer isreached. As the tubular articles pass around this sprocket 374 beneaththe guide 50 they are delivered onto a raceway formed by 'bottom plates54 supported 95 upon cross pieces 56 (see Fig. 2 upon the bottom of theframe work of the ryer. The lugs 22 depending from the Ibottom belt ofthe lowermost endless belt 20 serve to feed the tubular articles throughthe raceway to 10o the right-hand side thereof from which they aredelivered to a belt conveyer 21 or other receiving device in acompletely dried condition, see Fig. 3. y

The upper and lower-stretches of each endless belt 20 are supported atpoints intermediate the ends of the belts upon metal shoes 59, 60. seeFigs. 1, 3 and 6. The forked depending lugs 22 of the lower belts rideupon the metal shoes 60. The' metal shoes 110 59, 60 are supported u oncross bars 62 secured upon the vcrtica stays 38 of the dryer frame.

From the description thus far, it will be apparent that posit-ive timingof the several endless belts with relation to one another is obtained sothat there is no tendency of the tubular articles to jam or stick in anypart of the dryer. The guards or retainers 50 by which the tubulararticles are conveyed around the sprockets may be adjusted by adjustingbolts GS, the ends of which bear against the cud uprights of the framework of the dryer, as shown in Fig. 6. In this manner the position ofthe lower ends 72 of the guides may be adjusted to permit the tubulararticles to fall at such time as to be nicely deposited between theupstanding retaining lugs 22 imlnediately beneath.

'lhe tubular articles as they are delivered from the machine 5 in whichthey are made,

arc elevated up to a posit-ion in proximity to the left-hand end of thetop endless belt of the dryer, by an elevating conveyer 12. Theelevating conveyer comprises a pair of endless link belts 80, 82, whichpass over sprockets 84, 86. The Yupper sprockets 84 are mounted upon acoun-ter shaft 88. The counter shaft 88 is driven in timed relation tothe speed of the upper endless belt from the power shaft 32 through achain 89 and sprocket 91 upon a transferring shaft 90. Pinion gears 94,95- upon the transferring shaft 90 and counter shaft 88, mesh with oneanother and operate to transmit the rotations of the transferring.,rshaft 90 to the counter shaft 88 to drive the ,elevating conveyer 12 intimed relation both to the transferring shaft and also to the upperendless belt. The link belts 80, 82 of the elevating conveyer 12 areprovided with upstanding tube retaining lugs 92 arranged as shown inFigs. 1 and 4. The distance between adjacent retaining lugs is such thatsuccessive tubes, as they are picked up from the machine in which theyare made, are elevated and arrive at a point at the top of the elevatingconveyer 12- in such timed relation to the transferring mechanism 14 asto enable a transferring mechanism to automatically transfer the tubesfrom the elevating conveyer and to deposit them between successiveadjacent retaining lugs 22 upon the top belt of the upper endless linkbelt of the dryer.

In order that the requisite tension in each endless belt may be at alltimes maintained, provision is made for adjusting the sprock ets 26 atthe right-hand end .of the dryer. For this purpose the journal boxes 29are slidably mounted in guides 31 in a bracket 33 bolted to the uprights36 of the frame, as shown in Figs. 9 and 10.` An adjusting screw 35 isprovided to hold the sprockets in any desired position in the guides 31so that veyer to extend upwardly in the general dii rection illustratedin Fig. 1 or may be constructed as shown in Figs. 11 and 12 in the eventthat the arrangement of the manufacturing machine is such as tonecessitate the elevating conveyer to extend upwardly in the directionillustrated in Fig. 10.

The construction of the transferring mechanism illustrated in Figs. 4and 5, comprises two eccentrically mounted cups 110 arranged A to pickup the opposite ends of the tubular articles from the tube retaininglugs 92,0f the elevating conveyer 12 when such lugs 92 are substantiallyin the position illustrated in Fig. 4. The cups 110 are secured to adisk 112 mounted upon a shaft 116V loosely received in a bearing 118 ina crank 120 secured to the transferring shaft 90. The shaft 116 carriesa counterweight by which the cup 110 is always maintained up right, asindicated in Fig. 5. The shaft is driven in timed relation to both theelevating conveyer 12 and also the upper endless belt of the dryer. Themechanism by which the transferring mechanism, elevating conveyer andendless belts of the dryer are driven are such that the transferringshaft makes one revolution while the counter shaft for the elevatingconveyer makes a half revolution and while the counter shaft over whichthe upper endless belt of the dryer passes is making one eighth of arevolution. Vith this arrangement the transferring cups as they arerotated about the transferring shaft 90, operate to pick olf successivetubular articles from the retaining lugs 92 of the elevating conveyerand deposit them nicely between` successive adjacent retaining lugs 22upon the top belt of the upper endless belt of the dryer.

The transferring mechanism illustrated in Figs. 11 and l2 comprising analternate form, consists of a single elongated cup shaped member 130 forpicking olf the successive tubular articles from the elevating conveyer.The cup shapedmember 130 is' secured upon the upper end of arms 132, inthe lower ends of which a crank shaft 134 is journaled. The crank shaft134 is revolved by cranks 136 upon counter shafts 138, one of which isdriven from the power "the oscillatory crank Ithe adjacent retaininglugs ymrraxsae shaft 32 through a chain 140 and sprockets 142, 144 uponthe power shaft and counter shaft respectivel Each arm 132 is providedwith a slot 150 within which blocks 152 secured upon a lixed countershaft 154 are slidably received. The comblnatlon of motion and thereciprocation of the arms 132 in relation to the blocks 152 produces apath of motion forV the cup shaped member 130 of.v substantially ellitical form as illustrated in dotted lines in Fig. 11. The elevatinconveyer is driven from the power shaft t rough sprockets 160, 162 and achain 164 and the top endless belt of the dryer is positively driven intimed relation to both the elevating conveyer and transferring mechanismby a chain 170 and sprockets 172, 17 4. With this arrangement the cupshaped member loperatesto pick o successive tubular articles from theretaining lugs of the elevating. conveyer and deposit them nicely withinthe space between 22 of the u per endless belt conveyer o the dryer omwhich the articles pass slowly yback and forth through the dryer and aredelivered therefrom 1n a completely dried condition.

An important feature of the present dryer` resides in the lengths of thetube rfetaining lugs 22, which are preferably of greater length thanone-half of the diameter of the tube to be dried. It is desirable thatsuch length should be at least equal to one-half of the diameter of thetube in order that tubes may be conveyed from one belt of the dryer tothe next lower in a satisfactory manner and without jamming.

It will be observed that the present apparatus conveys and dries thetubular articles in an efficient, automatic and convenient manner.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for'conveying and drying tubular articles having, incombination, an overhead dryer, comprising an endless link belt, anelevator for raising successive tubular articles to near the top of thedryer, transferring mechanism for automatically picking olf successivetubular articles from the elevator and placing them in operativeposition upon the dryer, and means for operating the elevator, thetransferring mechanism and the link belt in timed relation whereby thetubes willV be depositedv successively upon the adjacent links of thebelt 2. An apparatus for conveying and drying tubular articles having,in combination, a dryer comprising a series of superposed endless linkbelts, an elevatin conveyer for raising successive tubular artlcles tonear the top of the dryer, transferring mechanism for automaticallypicking off successive tubular articles from the elevating conveyer anddepositing them on the upper stretch of the upper endless link belt ofthe dr er, and means for o erating the elevator, t e transferring mecanism and the upper link belt in timed relation whereby the tubes willbe deposited successively upon the links of the vupper belt.

3. An apparatus for conveying and drying tubular articles having, incombination, a dryer comprising a series of superposed link be tsgeared' to ether, means for driving the link belts, an e evatingconveyer for ralsing successive tubular articles to near the top of thedryer, and transferrin mechanism for picking off successive tubu ararticles from the elevating conveyer and depositing them upon the u perstretch of the upper endless link belt o the dryer, the successiveendless belts of the dryer operating to convey successive tubulararticles back and forth across the dryer upon the upper stretch of eachendless belt. 4. An apparatus for conveying and drying tubular articleshavin in combination, a dryer having means or conveying successivetubular articles, an elevating conveyerfor raisin successive tubulararticles to near v the top o the dryer, and transferring mechanism forautomatically transferring successive tubular articles from theelevating conveyer to the ,conveyer ofthe dryer, said transferringmechanism includingv a cupshaped member, and means for moving thecup-shaped member in timed relation to both the elevating conveyer anddryer conveyer to effect the transfer.

5. An apparatus for conveying and'drying t-ubular articles having, incombination, a

dryer having means for conveying successive tubular articles, anelevating conveyer for raisin successive tubular articles to near thetop o the dryer, and transferring mechanism for automatically`transferring successive tubular articles from the elevating conve er tothe conveyer of the dryer, said trans erring mechanism including two eccentrically mounted cup-shaped members, a counterweight for maintainingthe cupshaped members upright through all portions of their paths ofmotion, and means for rotating the eccentrically mounted cupshapedmembers in timed relation to both the elevating conveyer and theconveyer of the dryer tol effect the transfer.

6. An apparatus for conveying and drying tubular artlcles having, incombination, an overhead dryer provided with a movable conveyingmember,means for elevating successive tubular articles to a point in proxmityto said movable member, means for automatically transferring successiveartiv cles from the elevating conveyer and depositing them insuccessionupon the movable member of said dryer, said means including atube engaging member havin provision for an upward movement to li thetube,

sidewisc movement toward the dryer, and downward movement to deposit thetube'on the dryer, and means for actuating it 1n timed relation to boththe elevating conveyer and the movablemember of the dr er.

'7. An apparatus for conveying and rying tubular articles having, incombination, an overhead dryer provided with a movable conveying mem er,means for elevating-successive tubular articles to a point in proximityto said movable member, means for automatically transferring successivearticles from the elevating conveyerland depositing them in successionupon the movable member of said dryer, said means including acup-'shaped tube engaging member, a counterweight for maintaining thesame in an upright position, a crank for causing said tube engagingmember to rotate in a path to engage a tubular article upon theelevating means and to deposit it upon the movable member of the dryer.

NORMAN MARSHALL.

